Borges emerges on scene

In addition to leading the area in scoring with 19.3, Dartmouth's Cody Borges also set a school single-game record for 3-pointers with 10.

Buddy Thomas

For a guy who didn't fly under the radar, Cody Borges managed to be as elusive as he was under-appreciated.

"Teams became very much aware of him early in the season but they were never able to stop him," Dartmouth head coach Jeff Caron said.

Heck, most opponents had trouble just trying to slow the senior guard down.

There were several reasons why the Indians were good enough to win the Old Colony League and qualify for the postseason tournament for the first time in five seasons. The biggest was the all-around performance of their veteran backliner.

In addition to leading the area in scoring with his 19.3 average over the 20-game regular season schedule, Borges also set a school single-game record for 3-pointers with 10 and ranked at or near the top of the team stat sheet in both assists and steals on an every-game basis. Those overall numbers were enough to earn the 5-9 standout The Standard-Times Player of the Year honors in boys basketball.

"Teams simply couldn't stop him from scoring," Caron said. "In our one tournament game against Walpole, (Nick) Simonetti was hobbled by a bad ankle so they (Walpole) designed their defense to try and deny Cody the ball. All he did was score 28 points to keep us in the game."

In a regular-season clash against Bishop Connolly, the Cougars attempted to shadow Borges by playing a diamond-and-one defense. The Dartmouth guard responded by scoring 18 points in a 74-57 rout.

And, in a late-season, 13-point loss to Durfee, Borges put on a one-man offensive show, accounting for more than half of his team's 65 points with a career-high 35, mostly on the strength of a school-record 10 3-pointers.

"I never got to fully appreciate his performance until I watched the game film," Caron said. "During the game, as a coach I'm fully engrossed in what's happening on every play and I'm not aware of how many points an individual player may have. I knew Cody had hit a few 3-pointers but I had no idea he had that many until someone told me and I counted them on film."

Borges was a four-year member of the Dartmouth basketball program, but didn't get his first taste of varsity action until late in his sophomore year when he was brought up from the jayvee squad for the final three games of the regular season. He began his junior season as a starter.

"Because of my size, I knew I had to improve my all-around game in the off-season if I wanted to get some playing time," Borges said. "I could always shoot a little bit, but to play on the varsity I knew my ball-handling, passing and defense had to improve, so I began working on those things as soon as my sophomore season ended."

"Nobody worked harder than he did," said Caron who watched from his athletic director's seat as the guard evolved from a one-dimensional player into one of the area's better all-around performers as a junior. When he took the coaching reins from the retiring Steve Gaspar prior to the star of this past season, Caron felt Borges was ready to cap his high school career with an all-star performance.

"He never gets flustered or emotional and he always plays under control," Caron said. "I knew he was going to be a big part of our offense, but he also turned out to be our best defensive player. He's the type of player you wish you had two or three of because he's so easy to coach."

Basketball is the focal point of Borges' athletic future, which he hopes to continue at Bridgewater State University next season. Between now and then, he'll continue to do what he's done for the last three off-seasons.

"I'll play as much basketball as I can and continue to work hard on improving every aspect of my game," said the young man, who may still fly under the radar but is very much appreciated by anyone who has seen him play.

WHY HE WAS SELECTED: Borges led Dartmouth to an Old Colony League championship and its first postseason berth in five seasons by leading the area in scoring with his 19.3 point-per-game game average and his 61 3-point field goals. Nick Portelance of GNB Voc-Tech and Richie Hartnett of Westport also received consideration for Player of the Year honors.

KEY STATS: Borges was in double figures in 18 of 20 regular-season games (19 of 21 overall) and had 30 or more points twice and 20 or more points 14 times. He had multiple 3-pointers in 13 regular-season games (14 in all), including a string of nine straight games to start the season. His 10 3-pointers in a loss to Durfee set a Dartmouth single-game record.

MVP MOMENT: It could have come in the 35-point, record 10 3-point effort in a loss to Durfee, but it was his double-figure efforts and strong defensive plays in the four-game sweep of Bridgewater-Raynham and Barnstable that sealed an undefeated run through the OCL schedule that officially slapped the tag of leader on the senior's chest.

WESTPORT COACH SCOT BOUDRIA SAID: "He'll be a quality point guard wherever he plays. He's a phenomenal defense player and he's got the quickest release of a shot I've ever seen. He may be only 5-8 or 5-9 but he's a lot stronger than he looks and he plays without fear. He can create, he's never off-balance when he takes a shot and, away from the court, you couldn't ask for a nicer young man."

NOTES: Although the game-program listed him at 5-8, Borges insists he's 5-9. ... He was one of only two players from the 10 area schools to score multiple 3-point field goals in as many as nine consecutive games (Apponequet's Jacob Karar was the other), the only player to reach double-figure 3s in one game, the only player to score 30-or-more points in more than one game and the only player to score as many as 35 in one outing.

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